Whats the penalty? I found none.

There is a negative modifier for using a Ranged weapon while engaged, so why, in your right mind, would you not just manuever away from being engaged and THEN fire?

Is this something they missed?...or is it something I missed?

If you have a page reference please post. I'm not seeing alot of benefit being Melee when a Blaster Rifle can inflict what amounts to 10 base damage (9 + Success) at Medium+ range.

I would really like counter argument to my assessment.

Thank you in advance.

Terrain Comes To Mind. You Might Not Be Able To Maneuver. Lets See, You Could Also.Be Trying To.Keep An enemies Attention On You So Another In Your Party Can Take A Shot. Couple Of Reasons OfF The Top Of My head

A confined space, hazardous environment, difficult terrain and restricted movement are some of the reasons.

There is absolutely no reason why you would not move away from an opponent at Engaged range before firing if that's all you plan on doing. But like people have already pointed out, sometimes you can't move away for various reasons, like terrain/surroundings, being Ensnared or Pinned, or maybe you urgently need to use your manoeuvres for something else. But other than that, moving away is a no-brainer.

Whats the penalty? I found none.

I'm not seeing alot of benefit being Melee when a Blaster Rifle can inflict what amounts to 10 base damage (9 + Success) at Medium+ range.

A Wookiee with a starting Strength of 4 (conservative) and a standard Vibro-ax is going to be dealing base 7 damage (careful with your nomenclature—in your example above, 9 is the base damage, and 10 is the minimum damage you'd deal on a normal attack), plus any Success. He is also a Crit-machine, since vibro-weapons have a crit rating of 2. Start your Wookiee as a Gadgeteer, grab the jury-rigged talent, and you can crit with a measly 1 Advantage. That's worth the price of admission for some. And given the inherent a Vicious rating and the affordability of a serrated edge attachment, this build makes a lot of sense.

OR, start him as a Marauder and in no time he will be outstripping the blaster rifle for damage. And let's not forget about vibro-weapons' inherent Pierce, which is pretty much as good as extra damage.

He also starts with a base Soak of 4, which is easily boosted to 5 or 6 with starting credits, and extra Wound Threshold thanks to his higher Brawn, making a Melee user a bit harder to take down than someone focused on ranged combat.

And you don't even necessarily need a high Brawn to be proficient in Melee. For some, it really is all about the crit rating, like a Bothan Infiltrator I played a while back. She only used a vibro-knife, but she was deadly because I was causing a critical injury with nearly every attack.

Pretty much just depends on what you want out of life All things being equal, Ranged (Heavy) is obviously the best combat skill in the game, but there are checks & balances, so that it is not always the best choice. These include RP considerations: sometimes you can't bring a Ranged (Heavy) weapon with you due to planetary restrictions, and you'd certainly have a hard time trying to hide a rifle on your person if you wanted to appear unarmed. But a pistol or knife is easy to hide, and few systems have restrictions on people carrying small blasters or blades.

Gunnery > Ranged (Heavy).

This is one part of the system that doesn't really make sense to me, sure it's so that squishy characters have a hope if they get engaged in melee but think about it: if in a fist fight or some other encounter at that range if you tried to back off the other person would just follow you. If you turn around you just gave them a free shot at you because you turned your back on them. If you try and walk backwards that's another thing, sure in a boxing ring it's usually no problem, but in a hectic combat situation you could very easily trip over something.

So one thing that could make this a little more real is this, having to shove the enemy away from you before backing up. You could either use a rifle bash if you're a ranged heavy user, shove them back with your bare hands or the force if applicable. Or just fight them in melee, this makes the wrist blades from DC much more attractive since you only need one free hand to use it

So one thing that could make this a little more real is this, having to shove the enemy away from you before backing up. You could either use a rifle bash if you're a ranged heavy user, shove them back with your bare hands or the force if applicable.

You guys need to review p208, it's already accounted for. Engaged is considered a "sub-category" of Short. Moving from Short to Medium range takes one maneuver. However, if you're Engaged, it takes a maneuver to disengage. So that's the penalty: you can't go directly from Engaged to Medium, you can only go to Short. Quote (any typos and bolding are mine):

"The best way to consider engaged is as a sub-category of short range. Obviously someone can be slightly further away if they're at short range, rather than if they're engaged with someone. However, the distance is relatively minor. Thus, spending a maneuver to move to engage someone or something is as much a matter of moving into combat (or out of combat) cautiously enough to avoid a return blow--or flipping open and focusing one's attention on a device--as much as it is moving a physical distance."

This is basically identical to the old "2 meter step" from Saga, the differences are:

a) FFG assumes the characters will want to do it all the time;

b) FFG doesn't spell out an option if the character doesn't.

In Saga you could do the same thing...spend your move to back up so you could shoot...so I don't get where the objections really lie.

Now if a player said "I want to run directly to Medium range from Engaged in one maneuver" I'd probably allow it, but give the opponent the equivalent of an attack of opportunity, and probably a boost die. This isn't spelled out, but it doesn't need to be because most of the time the characters are going to want to be careful about engaging and disengaging.

Thank you all for the input.

OR, start him as a Marauder and in no time he will be outstripping the blaster rifle for damage. And let's not forget about vibro-weapons' inherent Pierce, which is pretty much as good as extra damage.

He also starts with a base Soak of 4, which is easily boosted to 5 or 6 with starting credits, and extra Wound Threshold thanks to his higher Brawn, making a Melee user a bit harder to take down than someone focused on ranged combat.

I have a Wookiee Marauder with a Brawn of 5 and high Brawl and Melee skills, and he swings a pair of special vibro-axes that have been modified so that they can be used one-handed. They’re also modified with a molecular-honed edge and serrated edge, so I’ve got the best possible crit and damage ratings. I’ve also got lots of talents and natural abilities that boost my damage.

But as much damage as I can do in a single swing, or even a paired swing, our group Heavy with a Light Repeating Blaster can do way more damage than I can — he has auto-fire, and can activate it a half dozen times in a single pull of the trigger.

My Wookiee is a nice little tank, but his Klatooinian buddy is the Heavy Artillery.

Gunnery > Ranged (Heavy).

You could do a build like Jorge from Halo: Reach, and it would be awesome, but that's a very specific character type that can make effective use of Gunnery weapons outside of starship combat.

This is why Ranged (Heavy) is, IMO, the king of combat skills.* You get the most bang for your buck. But, like Melee & Ranged (Light), your character could have a very decent game-mechanical reason for using Gunnery as her main skill (RP considerations aside), and could certainly be a contender for the heavy hitter category.

*to say nothing of the weapons themselves. In a vacuum, the Gunnery weapons are obviously more powerful than any others, but the game isn't played in a vacuum.

We got a heavy in the group. He's a monster with his HRB. I think he is starting to find the character boring and has been talking about making an Imperial Knight when we revisit the game.

Whats the penalty? I found none.

The penalty is the maneuver itself. You have to spend a Maneuver to disengage, which means you can't spend that Maneuver to aim, or move, or find a better defensive position, or activate any number of talents that you might have. Melee users do well to engage their ranged-weapon-using targets, since they know that they are limiting their foes by doing so.

I'm not seeing alot of benefit being Melee when a Blaster Rifle can inflict what amounts to 10 base damage (9 + Success) at Medium+ range.

A Wookiee with a starting Strength of 4 (conservative) and a standard Vibro-ax is going to be dealing base 7 damage (careful with your nomenclature—in your example above, 9 is the base damage, and 10 is the minimum damage you'd deal on a normal attack), plus any Success. He is also a Crit-machine, since vibro-weapons have a crit rating of 2. Start your Wookiee as a Gadgeteer, grab the jury-rigged talent, and you can crit with a measly 1 Advantage. That's worth the price of admission for some. And given the inherent a Vicious rating and the affordability of a serrated edge attachment, this build makes a lot of sense.

OR, start him as a Marauder and in no time he will be outstripping the blaster rifle for damage. And let's not forget about vibro-weapons' inherent Pierce, which is pretty much as good as extra damage.

He also starts with a base Soak of 4, which is easily boosted to 5 or 6 with starting credits, and extra Wound Threshold thanks to his higher Brawn, making a Melee user a bit harder to take down than someone focused on ranged combat.

And you don't even necessarily need a high Brawn to be proficient in Melee. For some, it really is all about the crit rating, like a Bothan Infiltrator I played a while back. She only used a vibro-knife, but she was deadly because I was causing a critical injury with nearly every attack.

Pretty much just depends on what you want out of life All things being equal, Ranged (Heavy) is obviously the best combat skill in the game, but there are checks & balances, so that it is not always the best choice. These include RP considerations: sometimes you can't bring a Ranged (Heavy) weapon with you due to planetary restrictions, and you'd certainly have a hard time trying to hide a rifle on your person if you wanted to appear unarmed. But a pistol or knife is easy to hide, and few systems have restrictions on people carrying small blasters or blades.

I keep forgetting to include situations to promote the advantages of concealable weapons. But then, even bigger melee weapons might get into a situation based on a technicality. (I'm picturing a Wookie carrying his big vibro-ax past a sign that reads "No Blasters."

Plus, there are reasons for playing a particular type of character beyond stats. Maybe you just want to be a melee fighter, because that's your style. There's a player in my game who uses 2 pistols, and it's not always to his benefit, but he enjoys describing and acting out the shots.

That's not to say that a character with strong combat stats isn't about style. Another player runs a mercenary soldier who is Mandalorian. He wears his armor everywhere (even if it makes him stand out) because that's tradition, and his weapon of choice is a blaster carbine. (with some attachments/mods) But this, too, is a character choice. The player himself is rather an enthusiast of Mandalorians, and not just the Fetts. He's a member of the Mandolorian Mercs (costuming guild like the 501st), quotes the Resol'Nare (six rules) and knows several key phrases in Mando'a. So, it's a case where "style" meshes nicely with a bigger gun.